Arun Luthra


Arun Luthra is a saxophonist, konnakol artist, composer, and bandleader based in New York City.

Early life

Arun was born in the United States into a multicultural family. His father was of Punjabi descent, and his mother was of English, Scottish, and German descent. Both of his parents spent their formative years in British Kenya, where they met. The family later moved to the United Kingdom, and eventually the United States, where Arun was born. The family eventually moved to Belgium when Arun was a toddler, where he learned to play a wide range of instruments. His family eventually moved back to the United States when he was a teenager.

Career

He has worked with Billy Harper, Eddie Henderson, Kenny Garrett, Dennis Irwin, Joe Chambers, Charli Persip, Portinho, Zé Renato, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Frankie Valli, Bobby Short, Lew Soloff, Bernard Purdie and Ray Vega.
Luthra has also performed or studied with the Hindustani and Carnatic musicians Selvaganesh Vinayakram, Hindustani classical music|Pandit] Trichy Sankaran, Pandit Samir Chatterjee, Krishnan Lalgudi & Vijayalakshmi Lalgudi, Pandit Karaikudi Subramaniam, Steve Gorn, Kiran Ahluwalia, Sufi singer Zila Khan, and Asha Puthli.
Luthra was interviewed by Linus Wyrsch on The Jazz Hole for Breakthruradio.
Luthra was named the 2017–2018 composer-in-residence at Flushing Town Hall by Exploring the Metropolis. In conjunction with this he was awarded a 2018 New Work Grant by the Queens Council on the Arts to premiere the music composed during his composer residency. In 2021 Luthra was named the Interdisciplinary Artist-in-Residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Division of the Arts. In 2022 Luthra was for the second time awarded a New Work Grant by the Queens Council on the Arts – this time to continue developing his large-scale multimedia work "Many Streams One River, Many Branches One Tree".

Discography

As leader

  • Tangibility
  • Louder Than Words with Rachel Eckroth
  • ''Live in New York''

As sideman